Bow Your Head? Close Your Eyes? How to act when saying grace 101.

My guess is that this has been covered in another forum but I wanted to throw it out there;

So who among us has been the following situation: You are sitting at a friends or even a family's dinner table and everyone gets ready to say grace. Everyone bows their heads and or closes their eyes. What do you do? Do you close your eyes and or bow your head out of respect and think to yourself "omg this is such bs", or do you hold your atheist head up high with a kind of "suck-it" mentality I am not going to coddle you just because you expect me to, I'm an atheist dammit and proud of it!!!

On occasion, when we have had religious people over for Thanksgiving, I said something simple like, "Thank you Mother Nature for our food today and thank you for our wonderful friends and family". The more religious people will look startled at first and then smile. It seems to satisfy everyone somewhat.

Honor and extend gratitude, for the most part. I think people can bless all life, even their friends and family, without involving the notion of god. In fact, It is only US that can bless anything, since we are the only real beings. And I guess I think we should claim that role.

"I recognize it like someone asking you to use the coaster on the coffee table, it's just the motions that matter..."

I don't think that analogy works for me. Using a coaster has a practical function. If the host asks me to use one, I'm not going through the motions; I am respecting their property. Prayer and bowing one's head has a symbolic function. It shows deference to God. In not bowing my head, I am respecting my property, that is to say my body and mind.

Just as I want others to respect my wishes & opinions, so I respect theirs. I can't see anything wrong in sitting quietly during their cermeonial garbage (thinking about the meal, a movie I just saw, or the host's great collection of cds - anything pleasant) while they do their thing.